Papers by Alex B. Pensive
Under-development in Sub-Saharan Africa is caused by both internal and external factors. The exte... more Under-development in Sub-Saharan Africa is caused by both internal and external factors. The external factors according to radical scholars or neo-Marxist are slavery, colonialism and neo-colonialism. While the internal factors are the underdeveloped productive forces among which are: leadership failure, infrastructural deficit, weak institutions, lack of economic integration, underdeveloped agriculture and industries etc. According to the radical scholars, European contact from the 15th century as spearheaded by Portugal, Spain and later Britain, France, Belgium, Germany and Italy, brought about the TransAtlantic slave trade. This slave enterprise lasted for 400 years and the consequent of this trade is depopulation of Africans, unequal exchange and the disarticulation of local economy that was already thriving. The abolition of the slave empire was the beginning of legitimate trade and economic imperialism. The Industrial Revolution in Europe in the late 1700s, brought capitalism to an advanced stage which necessitated the quest for colonies, search for markets, and raw materials for the home industries. This was followed by the Berlin colonial conference of 1884/1885 at the demand of Belgium and Germany, Africa was divided among the colonial powers through conquest and treaties of cession. This was the beginning of formal colonialism that was marked by subjugation, exploitation, disarticulation of the economy through colonial policies of settler economy in East African and Southern Africa and peasant economy in West Africa. The colonial economy only promoted the plantation of cash crops that will serve the needs of the capitalist mode of production rather than local needs. The cash crop policy created an international division of labour as Africans were made to specialize in primary products whose prices are subject to international capitalist manipulation. Educated Africans were also excluded from colonial administration because they see them as a threat to their hegemonic domination. Through agitations, political independence was granted but economically these former colonies were still being control and manipulated by the core countries. They were still being tied to apron string of these former masters who decide major political and economic policies. This is what Kwame Nrumah of Ghana described as " Neo-colonialism " meaning new form of colonialism. The core countries through the instrumentality of the Bretton Woods institutions; World Bank group and IMF, GATT, WTO and the activities of Multinational corporations manipulate these weak and vulnerable economies through different strategies and conditionality. Among which are liberalization of trade, privatization of public industries, removal of subsidies for the poor, financial liberalization, tied aids, loans, technical assistance, transfer of technology etc. thereby further deepening the dependency and the underdevelopment of these TWCs. The question is what went wrong with Sub-Saharan Africa, after many decades of political independence? Thus in spite of her massive wealth in natural and human resources the answer is failure of leadership at all strata of the society, from the family unit to political leadership. This is because her leadership is characterized as inept, corrupt, visionless, intellectually bankrupt, dictatorship, lack of democratic norms, and no respect for the rule of law, lack of accountability, etc. These factors account for her state of underdevelopment. Economic development all over the world is a function of visionary and purposeful leadership.
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Papers by Alex B. Pensive